Late Night Musing
by redrupee
Summary: Cloud awakens from his nightly hearing of voices to eavesdrop on a conversation Aeris and Tifa are having. Just friendship drabble I did to practice.


AN: This is my first time writing for Final Fantasy 7, so... It's pretty crap. It's just practice, though, so please don't lynch me for encroaching on your fandom. This takes place after the incident in Junon in which Priscilla nearly drowns. Cloud wakes up in the old lady's house after a night of rest feeling like obeying the RANDOM VOICES IN HIS HEAD that are telling him to ask Tifa questions.

Oh Cloud you psycho.

--

There was a terrible ruckus inside of his head.

Cloud jarred awake at a rather ungodly hour to the sound of familiar, yet soft, voices. It was certainly a lot quieter outside of his mind - it usually was, especially when he slept and heard that _other_ voice scolding him - but the sounds intrigued him and tempted him to remain awake in spite of the relentless exhaustion tugging at his eyelids. Who had he been sharing this room with again? … Where had they stopped for the night?

"… be like this?" Someone whispered. Cloud just barely caught the end of her question - God, he was so tired.

"What do you mean?" Another girl asked. It was her. Wasn't he supposed to ask her something? The voice had begun to tell him to before he'd awakened.

"Us. You know." That was Aeris, wasn't it? Cloud allowed his eyes to adjust to the darkness, and it only took a moment for him to make out the dimly-lit silhouettes perched side-by-side on the bed. Yes, he'd been right; it was Aeris, and her. He could spy the smoldering flame of Nanaki's tail on the carpet as well, but perhaps that was his imagination - he didn't remember giving that dog permission to sleep in their room.

"You're being really vague, Aeris," she said.

_Tifa, I need to ask you something_, Cloud's mind demanded, bold and confident. The words didn't leave his lips.

"You know what I mean, Tifa!" Aeris said with a giggle, though the tender sound quieted considerably as a foreign voice hushed them. Nanaki was present after all, it seemed, just as awake as the rest of them. "Cloud is asleep," the gruff voice scolded in a tone that suggested the intelligent beast would've given his other eye to join the slumber. If only he knew…

"I mean, all of us," the flower girl of the slums continued, so quiet that Cloud had to strain his sleepy ears to hear them. She lightly kicked her legs against the bed, and he could hear her smiling above her actual words. "All of us together like this. If we can save the planet, maybe we can stay friends and keep doing things like this - staying up all night and talking…" The wistfulness in those words gave the swordsman a dull ache in his heart.

"I wouldn't doubt it, Aeris," Tifa said. There was so much despair there, and the ache turned to a stabbing pain. "It would be fun, all of us sitting around and not having to worry about the planet, or the Mako… We could just stay here as friends, not co-workers, or whatever we are. I guess…" She trailed off - either that or she'd gotten even quieter.

Mako. Cloud's shroud of drowsiness lifted as he remembered that his eyes glowed blue.

He was just in time for Tifa to spot him.

"Cloud?" She asked, still bathed in a very faint blue light.

Blue light. Oh. His eyes were open, after all. How had he not realized that sooner?

"Are you awake, Cloud?" Aeris asked. He could see that she was still swinging her legs now that he had adjusted further, and he was still _so tired…_

"No," he responded automatically. He was rewarded for his eloquence by their laughter, a welcome sound that came so rarely now. Nanaki snorted in disapproval, perhaps vaguely hinting that they were still being too loud - only now the noise was waking him.

"I guess those glowing eyes of yours have minds of their own, then," Aeris teased, leaning forward. He saw the shadows of her bangs fall over her own eyes. "Anyway, before you go back to bed I have something to ask you, Cloud," she began thoughtfully. "I asked Tifa, and now I'm going to ask you - do you think that after this is over, we can all still stay friends like this? You know, talking to each other through the night but without having to worry?"

Cloud made a phantom shrugging gesture through the darkness. "I guess," he said. He could sense that wasn't the answer either of the girls wanted to hear, so he continued. "I mean, I don't see why not. … Sure, Aeris. That would be… Nice."

"I thought so, too," Nanaki grumbled sleepily. So he had an opinion after all, did he?

"Are you having trouble sleeping, Cloud?" Tifa asked abruptly. He saw her fold her arms and he suddenly felt a little afraid of the wrath she might unleash upon him if he said the wrong thing.

"I'm alright," he insisted. "I'll take another crack at it now. I'll turn over so my eyes don't bother you if I wake up again…"

"I think they're pretty," Aeris interjected, and he heard Tifa issue a vague sigh. "Besides, Red XIII's tail doesn't bother me, and it's brighter than your bright eyes - bright-eyes."

Tifa laughed alone this time, and for a moment Cloud actually felt elated. Elated, but tired.

"Well, that's all I needed to know." The kicking had finally stopped. "Good night, Cloud," the last of the Cetra concluded sweetly.

"Goodnight," Tifa added.

"I…" Was he forgetting something? Cloud furrowed his brows and dismissed it. "See you in the morning." Perhaps Aeris was right - maybe they would get their happy ending and remain friends. Maybe…

He drifted off with the sound of their laughter ringing in his ears.

There was a terrible ruckus inside of his head.


End file.
